Bioptical laser scanning system providing 360° of omnidirectional bar code symbol scanning coverage at a point of sale (POS) station

• US 6,991,167 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2003
• Issued: 01/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Metrologic Instruments Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Metrologic Instruments Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Good, Timothy, Dickson, LeRoy, Check, Frank, Groot, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thien M.
• Application Number:
  US10/436,893
• Publication Number:
  US 20040134987A1
• Time in Patent Office: 994 Days
• Field of Search: 23546201-46247, 235/472.01, 235/472.02, 235/472.03, 235/454, 235/455, 235/494, 235/470
• US Class Current: 235/462.14
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/10 Scanning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/106 having diffraction gratings as scanning elements, e.g. holographic scanners holographic optical elements G02B5/32, holography G03H
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisions for transferring data to distant stations, e.g. from a sensing device "transfer between computer elements G06F13/00 "; data-transmission H04L
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2207/1012 Special detection of object
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2207/1013 Multi-focal
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2207/1016 Motor control or optical moving unit control
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2207/1017 Programmable
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2207/1018 Source control
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10 by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10564 Light sources
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10584 Source control
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10594 Beam path
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10603 Basic scanning using moving elements
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10663 using hologram
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10673 Parallel lines
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10693 for omnidirectional scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10702 Particularities of propagating elements, e.g. lenses, mirrors G06K7/10831 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10792 Special measures in relation to the object to be scanned
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10801 Multidistance reading
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10811 Focalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10851 : Circuits for pulse shaping, amplifying, eliminating noise signals, checking the function of the sensing device basic electronic circuitry H03
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10861 : sensing of data fields affixed to objects or articles, e.g. coded labels postal sorting B07C3/14, conveying articles B65G47/48
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10871 : randomly oriented data-fields, code-marks therefore, e.g. concentric circles-code
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10881 : constructional details of hand-held scanners
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10891 : the scanner to be worn on a finger or on a wrist
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/109 : adaptations to make the hand-held scanner useable as a fixed scanner
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/14 : using light without selection of wavelength, e.g. sensing reflected white light G06K7/10831 - G06K7/1097 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/002 : Vending machines being part of a centrally controlled network of vending machines
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0045 : with a code reader for reading of an identifying code of the article to be registered, e.g. barcode reader or radio-frequency identity [RFID] reader
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0054 : with control of supplementary check-parameters, e.g. weight or number of articles

Abstract

Disclosed is a bioptical laser scanning system that provides 360° of omnidirectional bar code symbol scanning coverage at a point of sale (POS) station. The system generates a 3-D omnidirectional laser scanning pattern between the horizontal and vertical scanning windows during system operation. The laser scanning pattern of the present invention comprises a complex of pairs of quasi-orthogonal laser scanning planes, each composed by a plurality of substantially-vertical laser scanning planes for reading bar code symbols having bar code elements (i.e. ladder-type bar code symbols) that are oriented substantially horizontal with respect to the horizontal scanning window, and a plurality of substantially-horizontal laser scanning planes for reading bar code symbols having bar code elements (i.e. picket-fence type bar code symbols) that are oriented substantially vertical with respect to the horizontal scanning window.

Claims

1. A bioptical laser scanning system providing 360°

omnidirectional bar code symbol scanning coverage at a point of sale (POS) station, said bioptical laser scanning system comprising;

a horizontal section integrally connected to a vertical section;

a horizontal-scanning window formed in said horizontal section;

a vertical-scanning window formed in said vertical section, and being substantially orthogonal to said bottom-scanning window;

a first plurality of laser beam folding mirrors disposed within said horizontal section;

a second plurality of laser beam folding mirrors disposed within said vertical section;

a first laser beam production module for producing first laser beam, and a second laser beam production module for producing a second laser beam;

a rotating scanning element disposed within said horizontal section and having multiple surfaces rotating about an axis of rotation, for (i) scanning said laser beam and producing a first laser scanning beam that reflects off said first plurality of laser beam folding mirrors to generate and project a first plurality of laser scanning planes through said horizontal-scanning window, and (ii) scanning said second laser beam and producing a second laser scanning beam that reflects off said second plurality of laser beam folding mirrors to generate and project a second plurality of laser scanning through said vertical-scanning window,

whereby said first and second pluralities of laser scanning planes (i) intersect within predetermined scan regions contained within a 3-D scanning volume defined between said horizontal-scanning and vertical-scanning windows, and (ii) generate a plurality of groups of intersecting laser scanning planes within said 3-D scanning volume, and

wherein said plurality of groups of intersecting laser scanning planes form a complex omni-directional 3-D laser scanning pattern within said 3-D scanning volume capable of scanning a bar code symbol located on the surface of an object presented within said 3-D scanning volume at any orientation and from any direction at said POS station so as to provide 360°

of omnidirectional bar code symbol scanning coverage at said POS station.

2. The bioptical laser scanning system of claim 1, wherein the height dimension of the said horizontal section is less than about 4.5 inches for installation of said horizontal section within a countertop surface at said POS.

3. The bioptical laser scanning system of claim 2, wherein each said group of intersecting laser scanning planes comprises (i) a plurality of substantially-vertical laser scanning planes for reading bar code symbols having bar code elements (i.e., ladder type bar code symbols) that are oriented substantially horizontal with respect to said horizontal-scanning window, and (ii) a plurality of substantially-horizontal laser scanning plane for reading bar code symbols having bar code elements (i.e., picket-fence type bar code symbols) that are oriented substantially vertical with respect to said horizontal-scanning window.

4. The bioptical laser scanning system of claim 1, wherein said first laser beam production module comprises a first visible laser diode (VLD), and said second laser beam production module comprises a second visible laser diode (VLD).

5. The bioptical laser scanning system of claim 1, wherein said rotating scanning element comprises a holographic scanning disc having a plurality of holographic scanning facets.

6. The bioptical laser scanning system of claim 5, wherein said plurality of holographic scanning facets are classifiable into a first class of facets having High Elevation (HE) angle characteristics, and a second class of facets having Low Elevation (LE) angle characteristics.

7. The bioptical laser scanning system of claim 1, wherein said complex omni-directional 3-D laser scanning pattern is generated from said horizontal-scanning window and said vertical-scanning window during each revolution of said rotating scanning element.